


Lost and Found

by destimushi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s13e13 Devil's Bargain, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Reunions, Spoilers, post-Episode: s13e13 Devil's Bargain divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 18:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destimushi/pseuds/destimushi
Summary: Ketch keeps his word and passes the information along to the Winchesters. Sam can't believe it's true until he's got his angel back in his arms.VERY S13E13 SPOILER HEAVY





	Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> I don't normally do this, but after tonight's episode, my mind has been blown. This episode revived this ship for me, literally raised it from the dead, so here it is!

Ketch kept his word, much to Sam’s dismay. He thought it was a trap at first, but it was the way Ketch’s voice quivered on the tail end of his clipped phone call that gave Sam pause. He was suspicious, but worried.  

Breaking into Hell wasn’t easy, but a quick phone call with Rowena got him the spell he needed to slip in and out undetected. He didn’t want Dean and Cas coming along, after all, the more people involved, the higher the chance of them all getting caught. But after one look into that godforsaken cell, Sam was glad he had backup.

Sam takes a deep breath and wills the sour sting in his eyes to make way for courage. Gabe needs him. Needs him to be strong, to be the rock he doesn’t know how to be. He steals a glance at the small bundle huddled on his bed, and a fresh wave of nausea threatens to empty the contents of his stomach.

“Ah,” Gabe says, his voice thinner and more fragile than Sam remembers. “It feels nice to have my grace back. And my voice.”

Sam swallows and sits on the bed, acutely aware of the neat three inches between them. He doesn’t touch, unsure how Gabe will react after being in captivity for so long. If the state they found him in was anything to go by, Gabe must have endured immense torture, and the last thing Sam wants to do is to cause him more discomfort.

So, he sits, and he watches, and he waits.

“Cassie insisted on healing me,” Gabriel continues and lifts a hand in front of his face, flipping it back and forth, as if studying the unmarred skin there. There’s something in his golden eyes that Sam can’t decipher. “I can do it myself now, so he really didn’t have to.”

“I—” Sam clears his throat. “I’m sure he just wanted to help.”

“Ah, yes, help.”

“I’m so sorry, Gabe,” Sam blurts, and, though he desperately wants to keep his mouth shut, the floodgate has opened and he can’t close it. “We thought you were—”

“Dead?” Gabe smirks.

“We should have—I should have known.”

“How would you?” Gabe asks. “When I don’t even know what happened myself?”

“What?”

“The last thing I remember is Lucifer’s knife in my gut. When I woke up, I was strapped to a table and…” Gabe shudders. Pulls the blanket slower around his slender shoulders.

Sam reaches out, then freezes and Gabe flinches. It’s a negligible twitch of muscles, so faint Sam almost thinks he imagines it. His chest seizes, and his stomach twists with unadulterated rage.

“Asmodeus kept me—”

“You don’t have to.”

“—like a pet. Said one day he’ll have use of me,” Gabe says and the light in his eyes dimmed.

Sam digs his nails into his palms, and the pain grounds his anger as he resists the urge to pull Gabe into his arms. To smother away the crease between his brows and wipe away the pain haunting his eyes.

“I don’t know why I’m not dead, Sam,” Gabe murmurs and his eyes seek out Sam’s for the first time since they brought him back to the bunker. He traces a finger along his lips, the skin pink and supple. There’s no trace of the twine that kept him mute for god knows how long. “I chanted your name, whispered it when they left me alone and screamed it when they—anyway. He got tired of it, so he fixed it.”

Gabe takes a shuddering breath and drops his hand in his lap. “I don’t know—”

Sam sobs, emotions punching through the flimsy dam he so hastily put up. He reaches for Gabe, arms trembling, and it’s the span of a skipped heartbeat before Gabe toppled into his embrace.

It’s just like how he remembers in the depth of his most secret dreams. Gabe shivers as if his body is having a stern talking to with his heart, and it’s another long moment before he settles into Sam’s arms. Snug. Safe. Where he belongs.

“God, I’ve missed you,” Sam whispers into the top of Gabe’s head, hair still damp from his earlier shower. “I can’t believe you’re actually here.”

“I’m here.” Gabe snuggles closer, arms slipping around Sam’s waist until they are slotted as close as the confines of their clothes allowed.

“I thought I lost you. I thought you were gone”—Sam clings to Gabe’s form like a lifeline—“and here you are. I’m so sorry. I’m so so so sorry. I should have looked for you. I should have—” Whatever Sam’s about to say dies on the tip of his tongue as Gabe’s soft lips brush against the corner of his mouth.

“I’m the one that’s just escaped endless torture,” Gabe teases. “Shouldn’t you be the one holding it together?”

Sam snorts through the snot clogging his nose. When did he start crying? “I’m sorry. I’m just a dumb kid, remember?”

Gabe doesn’t respond, just tilts his chin and presses his lips into Sam’s. The kiss quivers like a butterfly unfurling from its cocoon. Sam pulls back, only to have Gabe close the sliver of space between them as he darts in. It’s permission, it’s acknowledgment, it’s a plea.

It’s something Sam hasn’t allowed himself to think about lest the emptiness consumes him.

He cradles the back of Gabe’s head, licks along the seam of his lips, and when Gabe’s fingers dig into his mane of hair, Sam gives in. He lunges forward, crushes Gabe to his chest as he drinks in the forgotten sweetness of Gabe’s mouth. Gabe tastes like something lost and something found. He tastes like coming home, and Sam’s lightheaded as he drowns in this long-lost flavour.     

It doesn’t matter what happens next. Doesn’t matter who’s running Heaven and who sits on the throne of Hell. Sam will deal with it like he always does, except now there’s a burning flame fueling his limbs and his heart as he finally, finally feels whole again.   

   

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS THE SOFTNESS I NEED. SOMEONE GRANT IT TO ME TT__TT!!


End file.
